


All I Need is Just One Chance

by chetta



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Getting Back Together, M/M, like not by a long shot, marvin isn't over whizzer, other people are mentioned but its very whizzer/marvin centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 09:12:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11414772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chetta/pseuds/chetta
Summary: Because Marvin and Whizzer need more than just a few lines of song to fix their fractured relationship.





	All I Need is Just One Chance

Marvin enjoys telling people that he’s smart. He likes showing off his college degrees, his comfortable six-figure salary. He points out his son and boasts about Jason’s intelligence and charisma.

‘Jason plays chess. He gets all A’s in school,’ Marvin tells his co-workers. His friends. His extended family. 

Marvin has a nice job, a nice apartment, a loving son, and a good life.

Coincidentally, Marvin is also completely miserable. 

He has this great life and no one to share it with. It’s boring, dull. He's fallen into a pattern that's so unfulfilling it feels like he's dying every time he has to relive it. Every day follows approximately the same routine: to work, then break for an uninspiring lunch, back to work, then a quick detour to the grocery store, a bland dinner in front of the television, and then curl up in an empty bed. Rinse and repeat. Day after day. 

Marvin hates the monotony. More than anything he misses Whizzer, regrets how badly he’d screwed things up between them. 

Because as much as Marvin wants to blame Whizzer -- his lasciviousness, his pride, his vanity -- in the end it was Marvin who had been unable to compromise. With his pride at stake, Marvin dealt with the situation the only way he knew how to:

He left, distancing himself from the problem as much as he could.

It’s what he did with Trina when he divorced her; what he did with Jason when he realized having a son would be much more complicated than what he signed on for. 

So when Whizzer refused to conform to the role Marvin had laid out for him, Marvin threw a suitcase at his feet and showed him the door. 

Of course, things have improved since then; now he and Trina can hold a polite conversation when the situation demands it and Jason actually looks excited to see him when he’s dropped off on the weekends. 

That just leaves Whizzer. The one loose end back from when Marvin had run around making an ass of himself. Marvin had loved Whizzer; he can admit to himself now what he’d never been able to when they’d been together. 

It keeps him up at night sometimes, thinking about all the good things and the bad and the absolutely awful. He thinks about the scent of Whizzer’s shampoo, the taste of spearmint toothpaste just after Whizzer brushed his teeth, the way Whizzer’s smile was radiant even in the dark. 

Marvin’s grown up a bit in the time he and Whizzer have been apart. The distance broke them up but it gave him enough objectivity to figure out exactly why they’d never clicked in the way the should have. 

(they share the blame but most of it was kinda Marvin’s fault.)

Marvin’s grown up; he’s grown as a person. 

(he still wants Whizzer Brown.)

000

The four boys streak across the diamond in their blue and white uniforms. The other team is left scrambling as they fumble the ball across the field. Most of the crowd is up on its feet, a whole herd of Jewish parents screaming and hollering. This will be the Devils’ first win of the season. 

Some distant part of Marvin’s brain realizes all of these things. He’s staring blankly at the field but all he can focus on is the clammy hand Whizzer’s left on his arm, clutching at the skin of his wrist where the sweater has ridden up.

The hand spasms suddenly before loosening its hold. “Sorry,” Whizzer says, forcing Marvin to actually look at him. “I’m way too invested in this little league game.”

Marvin can just barely see his eyes behind the sunglasses, he wonders how offended Whizzer would be if he just pulled them off.

“You know, you still have my phone number.”

“Oh, right,” Marvin grimaces. He turns away from Whizzer to shoot a thumbs up at Jason, who’s busy being carried from the diamond by his teammates. The unadulterated joy on his son’s face makes Marvin grin. 

Whizzer’s hand snakes up to his shoulder. His touch is light enough that it’s almost a caress. “I wanted you to call,” he admits quietly.

The stadium around them is emptying, Trina and Mendel have already gone down to meet Jason and Cordelia’s busy pulling her girlfriend over to the snack bar.

“I wanted to call you.”

“And yet somehow you just never got around to it,” Whizzer snaps. The hand drops and he makes a move towards the exit. 

Suddenly brave, Marvin snags Whizzer’s leather jacket before he can get too far. “I didn’t call because I didn’t want to know if you’d already found someone else.”

“That never used to bother you-”

“No, Whizzer, it always bothered me,” Marvin spits, the acid in his tone causing Whizzer to reel back. “I hated it that you’d disappear for days without telling me where you were or who you were with. And then you’d just show up again at my door and kiss me and pretend you hadn’t been screwing other guys behind my back.”

They’re back in familiar territory now; one of the only things that ever really worked for the two of them was fighting. 

Whizzer has his arms crossed, his stance defensive. “You’re one to talk about cheating,” he sneers. 

“Don’t try and justify yourself by pointing the finger at me. You think I don’t know how wrong that was?” 

“It never stopped you from crawling back to me every time you wanted your-”

“Shut up! Just stop!” Marvin yells, throwing out a hand to silence him. The baseball pitch around them is quiet; all the parents and children have already left. The only audible sounds are the hum of the cicadas and the faint buzz of traffic in the distance. 

“Yes, I was an asshole to you when we were together! I get that now! I treated you badly and showed you no respect and still expected you to be there when I got home at the end of the day. I’m sorry, okay? Is that what you want to hear? That everything was my fault and you did nothing wrong?” They’re standing mere inches apart now; Marvin’s moved forward but Whizzer isn’t giving up any ground. “Well that’s not happening, Whizzer Brown, because you’re just as much to blame as I am!”

Whizzer scoffs, but even that sounds halfhearted. “Really?”

“Yes! You knew! You knew how in love with you I was and still, you held me at arm’s length-”

“I didn’t know, actually,” Whizzer interrupts. His brows are drawn together in confusion. 

“Sorry?” Marvin breathes deep, trying to rein himself in. 

“You loved me?” Whizzer's voice is strangled. 

Marvin's thrown off balance by how small Whizzer sounds. The beating of his heart seems to echo in the silence of his head. "I- yeah. I always thought that it was obvious. I was always so jealous whenever you’d come back reeking of some other guy. I hated that I knew exactly when you’d decided that I wasn’t enough and you needed someone else for a change."

Those days had been the worst. Marvin would skulk around after Whizzer, absolutely itching for a fight. More than not they ended with Whizzer spending the night somewhere else. 

Whizzer is silent for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he says finally. His gaze drops to his shoes. They’re some stylish, overpriced brand that Marvin can’t identify. 

“I loved you,” Whizzer confesses, the words sounding as if they had to be forced from his chest. “I wanted to come back like I always did after our fights, just walk right in and pretend that nothing happened. But something about the way you dropped that suitcase in front of me just made everything seem so final.” 

Marvin reaches out to touch Whizzer’s face. To Marvin's surprise, he doesn't shy away as he might’ve in the past.

“We messed everything up so bad, Marv,” Whizzer sighs. His hand comes up to cover the one cupping his cheek. 

“Can we try again, maybe?” Asking for another chance feels like walking off a cliff with his eyes closed, it’s a feeling he’s become familiar with since their breakup. He infuses his voice with as much longing as possible, anything for another shot with Whizzer. “It won’t be perfect, not right away at least, but we could work on it?” 

It’s a plea, a shot in the dark. It’s simultaneously everything Marvin wants and doesn’t deserve. 

Whizzer’s bewilderment thaws into a smile. It’s the first genuine one Marvin’s seen on the man in two years, maybe even longer. 

“Maybe dinner?”

Marvin grabs Whizzer’s other hand. “Just as long as you’re not cooking,” he quips.

Whizzer laughs wetly, tipping his head forward so that their foreheads meet. “I missed you. Even when I didn't want to admit it."

Marvin’s life is pretty good. He’d messed up a few (read: many) things along the way, but God has a way of offering up second chances. 

And standing there with Whizzer, their hands clasped and faces touching, Marvin realizes that this is possibly the best second chance he’ll ever be given. He’s not about to throw it all away this time. Not for his pride or for some abject idea of a life he thinks he should have.

This is what he wants. 

“I missed you too, kid.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everybody! First time writing for Falsettos so please drop me a comment saying what you think of Marvin/Whizzer's characterizations. I'll probably be writing a little more in the coming weeks, hopefully with something new coming out by Wednesday. The title comes from the classic song 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'. 
> 
> I'm trying to get back into writing right now so all feedback helps!!
> 
> [Come cry about Falsettos with me on my tumblr!](http://memesichetta.tumblr.com/)


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